Hydraulic fracturing is a process used in the oil and gas industry to stimulate the production rate of a well. The process involves injecting a high volume of fluid, such as water, down the well at a high pressure to cause the subterranean formation surrounding the well to fracture. Because oil and gas wells are often located in remote locations, one of the issues faced when performing hydraulic fracturing is how to effectively transport large quantities of fluid to the well site. One way of providing fluid is to transport the fluid in trucks to the well site. Due to the volume of fluid that may be required, this can be cost prohibitive. Another way of getting fluid to the well site is to pump the fluid through a conduit from a nearby source of fluid, such as a pond, lake, stream, or the like, to the well site.
Prior to initiating the pumping process, the conduit must be deployed from the well site to the source of fluid. In many instances, the distance from the fluid source to the well site may be several miles. In the past, polymer based piping and metal based piping have been used to form the conduit. However, in recent years collapsible lay-flat hose have been used. In the case of lay-flat hose, it is generally stored and transported to the well site on a reel. At the well site, the reel must be removed from the transport vehicle and unrolled along the ground to the fluid source. Due to the distance from the well site to the fluid source, multiple sections of hose may be required to be laid out and connected with one another in an end-to-end fashion. Once the requisite amount of fluid has been pumped from the fluid source, the hose sections must be disconnected from one another and rolled onto the reels for transport from the well site. Currently, deployment and retrieval of lay flat hose is a time consuming, and thus costly, process.
To this end, a need exists for an improved apparatus for deployment and/or retrieval of hose. It is to such apparatus that the inventive concepts disclosed herein are directed.